Refuge - RESOURCES
What You Can Do To Support Those Seeking Refuge
Home is the starting place of love, hope, and dreams. Without it, we’re lost.
There are 25 million refugees in the world. (PBS News Hour 3/23/2020) – people displaced by disaster -- people who left because staying was worse than leaving everything familiar behind. “No one leaves home,” said Warsan Shire, “unless home is the mouth of a shark.”
Most of us are descendants of refugees. We’ve all felt misplaced at one time or another. “It is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks,” wrote Dina Nayeri.
Sooner or later, each of us will have to count on the kindness and mercy of strangers. So, let’s not be strangers to those who seek refuge.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Here are some excellent resources for more information on how you can support those in need of refuge.
One Small House has built 75 homes in rural Mexico, the Mississippi Delta, Haiti and Shreveport, Louisiana. Thanks to the support of donors and volunteers, they’ve been able to help countless families. And because they’re run entirely by volunteers, they’re able to promise that donations go directly towards helping these families.
The Welcoming Center believes that a steady influx of new customers, workers, and entrepreneurs can reinvigorate Pennsylvania’s aging population, renew its neighborhoods, and re-energize the economy. By making Pennsylvania a magnet for immigrants, it will become a more vibrant, creative, and dynamic competitor in today’s global economy. They work closely with government agencies, service providers, employers, business associations, trade unions, and economic development groups.
Welcoming the Stranger is an educational non-profit that offers free classes in English as a Second Language (ESL), computer skills, and United States citizenship exam preparation to adult immigrants and refugees in the Philadelphia metro region.
Friends Committee on National Legislation is a Quaker-based organization that supports compassionate and sensible immigration reform. We at Force For Good are big fans of their work.
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC) is a coalition working collectively on immigrant rights in Pennsylvania, United States.
Immigrant Rights Action of Doylestown, PA, United States documents ICE activity in our area; supports individuals, families & employers impacted by detentions & deportations; and works with recently-arrived asylum-seekers to help them secure legal representation and enroll children in school. Their volunteers provide transportation and accompaniment to legal consultations, court hearings and ICE supervision visits, while their attorney referral program and financial support from a community legal defense fund make it possible to families to quickly retain effective counsel in immigration cases.
Human Rights Watch, featured on the PBS News Hour, is a great organization that defends rights and secures justice.
Sanctuary Everywhere is the simple idea that everyday people can work together to keep each other safe. Sanctuary can mean taking someone into a congregation to protect them from deportation, but more broadly, it's about the community coming together to protect targeted communities from state violence—including immigrants, people of color, Muslims and other targeted religious groups, or LGBTQ people.
No More Deaths is a humanitarian organization dedicated to stopping the deaths of migrants in the desert.
One World is a bold commitment to eradicate poverty in all forms and dimensions by 2030. This involves targeting the most vulnerable, increasing access to basic resources and services, and supporting communities affected by conflict and climate - related disasters.
The Peace Center in Langhorne, PA, United States, is a diverse community committed to living together in Justice and Peace with a mission to educate, empower and support individuals and organizations in efforts to prevent violence, promote peaceful resolution of conflict and foster inclusive, equitable and safe communities locally, nationally and worldwide. Jonathan has been a supporter of this ground-breaking organization for nearly 40 years.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service work on behalf of all migrants and refugees to protect, embrace and empower in a world of just and welcoming communities. They stand with and advocate for migrants and refugees, transforming communities through ministries of service and justice.
The UN Refugee Agency offers emergency relief efforts, cash assistance, education, innovation, building livelihoods, and resettlement in the United States.
Refugees International advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. They do not accept any government or UN funding, ensuring the independence and credibility of their work.
Warsan Shire, quoted in our film, is a British writer, poet, editor and teacher, who was born to Somali parents in Kenya. In 2013 she was awarded the inaugural Brunel University African Poetry Prize. Her words "No one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark," from the poem "Conversations about Home (at a deportation center)," have been called "a rallying call for refugees and their advocates.”
Dina Nayeri, former immigrant, is the author of “The Ungrateful Refugee,” one of the most widely shared 2017 Long Reads in The Guardian.